College Football Rankings: Top 25 after spring practice
Penn State Nittany Lions
2016: 11-3,
Talking about the potential of what Saquon Barkley could do in 2017 would be overkill at this point. He’s a first-round NFL draft talent at running back and the Penn State Nittany Lions are going to feed him as such. The offense is going to run (no pun intended) through Barkley and that’s the way it should be, as well as giving them a strong baseline on that side of the ball. With that said, there are question marks that have yet to be fully answered that must be before we go anointing Penn State as being “back.”
The first area of concern ( a mild concern when you’re talking about a top-10 team, but a concern nonetheless) is the defense. Penn State is fine in the secondary with a game-breaking safety such as Marcus Allen in the fold, even after losing John Reid to injury this spring at cornerback. The key for them, though, is going to be players like Shareef Miller stepping up in the front seven. He was great in the spring game, but that has to be consistent for the defense to be up to snuff.
Perhaps more important for the Nittany Lions, though, is quarterback Trace McSorley. Having Barkley behind him will obviously aid his cause, but it’s not just about losing a player like Chris Godwin that hurts him. McSorley had his great moments in 2016 but also gave Penn State fans collective heart palpitations at times as well. He’s going to need to step up mentally as a leader and be a secure, stable presence for the offense to reach its potential.